Greetings from London. I'm here for the week visiting our office and speaking at the Internet World conference.

It has always been a pleasure to know and work with you, and thanks for your comments.

I love the video you posted. That is very insightful and concerning. I didn't realize that the printing press and radio started in the same open way as the Web, only to be controlled by a few later. Hopefully with the onslaught of user-generated content being 60% or so of all content on the Web, this will not be able to happen in our generation.

Best,
Brett

Greetings from London. I'm here for the week visiting our office and speaking at the Internet World conference.

It has always been a pleasure to know and work with you, and thanks for your comments.

I love the video you posted. That is very insightful and concerning. I didn't realize that the printing press and radio started in the same open way as the Web, only to be controlled by a few later. Hopefully with the onslaught of user-generated content being 60% or so of all content on the Web, this will not be able to happen in our generation.

Best,
Brett

I couldn't agree with you more. I meant to tell you about Peter Blackshaw's post on what marketers still control in response to your Web 2.0 University and panel discussion at the Shop.org Marketing Workshop a few weeks ago. Sam wrote about this last year, on May 1, and I think it's brilliant:
http://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/2007/05/01/the-consumermarketer-control-framework/

Best,
Brett

I couldn't agree with you more. I meant to tell you about Peter Blackshaw's post on what marketers still control in response to your Web 2.0 University and panel discussion at the Shop.org Marketing Workshop a few weeks ago. Sam wrote about this last year, on May 1, and I think it's brilliant:
http://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/2007/05/01/the-consumermarketer-control-framework/

Best,
Brett

Brett prompted me to recollect my small role in driving sales for companies leading some interesting related transformational trends:

In 1987: the emerging field of “UPC Scanner-based Electronic Marketing” with IRI Software.
In 1995: the emerging field of “Enterprise Reporting / Business Intelligence” with Crystal Decisions.
In 2002: the emerging field of “Online Behavioral Profiling and Analytics” with Coremetrics
Since 2007: the emerging field of “Social Media Marketing” with PopularMedia

With Social Media Marketing, marketers are starting to leverage social networks to form ideas or generate brand awareness — increasing visibility, encouraging brand feedback and dialogue, and sometimes selling products or services. Interest in this channel is extremely high, the adoption rate is increasing and the emerging best practices are in their infancy. I'm excited to see marketers taking an increasingly active, planned role in social networks: directing, influencing, or motivating community members to create and share content. I believe the future is both bright and will prove fascinating.

Some powerful results we've seen, highlighting the effectiveness of this channel, where consumers are offered an engaging reason to leverage their social network(s) to introduce their friends to a brand:

15% same session purchase rate
82% online survey completion rate
941% increase in online account registration

Below is an insightful video highlighting the evolution of the internet and the importance of ongoing net neutrality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3WnJ42kw

Brett prompted me to recollect my small role in driving sales for companies leading some interesting related transformational trends:

In 1987: the emerging field of “UPC Scanner-based Electronic Marketing” with IRI Software.
In 1995: the emerging field of “Enterprise Reporting / Business Intelligence” with Crystal Decisions.
In 2002: the emerging field of “Online Behavioral Profiling and Analytics” with Coremetrics
Since 2007: the emerging field of “Social Media Marketing” with PopularMedia

With Social Media Marketing, marketers are starting to leverage social networks to form ideas or generate brand awareness — increasing visibility, encouraging brand feedback and dialogue, and sometimes selling products or services. Interest in this channel is extremely high, the adoption rate is increasing and the emerging best practices are in their infancy. I'm excited to see marketers taking an increasingly active, planned role in social networks: directing, influencing, or motivating community members to create and share content. I believe the future is both bright and will prove fascinating.

Some powerful results we've seen, highlighting the effectiveness of this channel, where consumers are offered an engaging reason to leverage their social network(s) to introduce their friends to a brand:

15% same session purchase rate
82% online survey completion rate
941% increase in online account registration

Below is an insightful video highlighting the evolution of the internet and the importance of ongoing net neutrality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3WnJ42kw

Brett prompted me to recollect my small role in driving sales for companies leading some interesting related transformational trends:

In 1987: the emerging field of “UPC Scanner-based Electronic Marketing” with IRI Software.
In 1995: the emerging field of “Enterprise Reporting / Business Intelligence” with Crystal Decisions.
In 2002: the emerging field of “Online Behavioral Profiling and Analytics” with Coremetrics
Since 2007: the emerging field of “Social Media Marketing” with PopularMedia

With Social Media Marketing, marketers are starting to leverage social networks to form ideas or generate brand awareness — increasing visibility, encouraging brand feedback and dialogue, and sometimes selling products or services. Interest in this channel is extremely high, the adoption rate is increasing and the emerging best practices are in their infancy. I'm excited to see marketers taking an increasingly active, planned role in social networks: directing, influencing, or motivating community members to create and share content. I believe the future is both bright and will prove fascinating.

Some powerful results we've seen, highlighting the effectiveness of this channel, where consumers are offered an engaging reason to leverage their social network(s) to introduce their friends to a brand:

15% same session purchase rate
82% online survey completion rate
941% increase in online account registration

Below is an insightful video highlighting the evolution of the internet and the importance of ongoing net neutrality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3WnJ42kw

I think people can do one of two things:

1. Be afraid and hope it goes away (never a good plane).

2. Start engaging in a conversation around strategy and brands instead of tactics and channels.